Tuesday, October 09, 2007

The Two TreesBeloved, gaze in thine own heart,The holy tree is growing there;From joy the holy branches start,And all the trembling flowers they bear.The changing colours of its fruitHave dowered the stars with merry light;The surety of its hidden rootHas planted quiet in the night;The shaking of its leafy headHas given the waves their melody,And made my lips and music wed,Murmuring a wizard song for thee.There the Loves a circle go,The flaming circle of our days,Gyring, spiring to and froIn those great ignorant leafy ways,Remembering all that shaken hairAnd how the winged sandals dart,Thine eyes grow full of tender care;Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.Gaze no more in the bitter glassThe demons, with their subtle guile,Lift up before us when they pass,Or only gaze a little while;For there a fatal image growsThat the stormy night receives,Roots half hidden under snows,Broken boughs and blackened leaves.For all things turn to barennessIn the dim glass the demons hold,The glass of outer wearinessMade when God slept in times of old.There, through the broken branches, goThe ravens of unresting thought;Flying, crying, to and froCruel claw and hungry throat,Or else they stand and sniff the wind,And shake their ragged wings: alas!Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:Gaze no more in the bitter glass- - -Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,The holy tree is growing there;From joy the holy branches start,And all the trembling flowers they bear.Remembering all that shaken hair,And how the winged sandals dart.Thine eyes grow full of tender care:Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.-- William Butler Yeats